Switch-throw.



W. A. LINES.

SWITCH THROW.

APPLICATION FILED JUNB7,1913.

1,106,657, Patented Aug.11,1914.

WILLIAM A. LINES, 0F SPOKANE, WASHINGTON.

SWITCH-THROW.

meanest.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 111, 1914...

Application filed June 7, 1913. Serial No. 772,403.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, XVILLIAM A. LINES, a citizen of the United States,residing at Spokane, in the county of Spokane and State of lVashington,have invented anew'and useful. Switch lhrow, of which the following is aspecification.

The device forming the subject matter of this application, is amechanism for throwvehicle.

The invention aims to provide novel mechanism for operatively connectingthe switch points with the wheel engaging members.

Another object of the invention is to provide a novel means for housingand pro tectlng certain movable parts of the structure.

It is within the scope of the invention to improve generally and toenhance the utility of, devices ofthat type to which the presentinvention appertains.

lVith the above and other objects in view which will appear as thedescription proceeds, the invention resides in the combination andarrangement of parts and in the details of construction hereinafterdescribed and claimed, it being understood that changes in the preciseembodiment of invention herein disclosed can be made within the scope ofwhat is claimed without cleparting from the spirit of the invention.

In the drawing :Figure 1 shows the invention in top plan, the cover ofthe casing being removed; Fig.2 is an elevation showing the inner faceof one rail; Fig. 3 is a sectional elevation showing one of the wheelengaging members and attendant parts; Fig. 1- is an elevation showingtheother wheel engaging member; and Fig. 5 is an elevation showing amodification in sundry details of the invention.

In thedrawings, the main line rails are denoted by the numerals 1 and 2,the numeral 3 indicating the siding rails.

The numeral 4 indicates the switch points. In practice, there may be oneswitch point or two, two switch points being shown in the.

present instance.

Located between the rails 1 and 2 is a casing 5. In practice, the casing5 is housed. in by a suitable cover, but for the sake of clearness inillustration, the cover has not been shown in the present drawings.Disposed transversely of the cas1ng5 and mg a switch from'a passing caror other loosely mounted therein is a connecting rod 6, united with theswitch points 4, the connecting rod being mounted to move in openings 7in the rails. Extended longitudinally of the track and disposedtransversely of the connecting rod 6, are actuating members, preferablytaking the form of rods 8 and 9, the rods 8 and 9 being held for rightline sliding movement in guides 10. A bell crank lever 11 is fulcrumedas indicated at 12 to one side of the connecting'rod 6, one end of thebell crank lever ll being loosely connected as indicated at 1 1 with therod 6, the other end of the bell crank lever 11 being pivoted asindicated at 5 1 to the rod 8. A bell crank lever 15 is provided, thesame being fulcrumed as indicated at 17, upon the opposite side of therod 6 from the bell crank lever 11. As shown at 16, one end of the bellcrank lever 15 is loosely connected with the rod 6, thecther end of thebell crank lever 15 being pivoted as indicated at 55 to the rod 9.

The rod 8 is provided with a rack 18 meshing into a pinion 19, securedto a primary shaft 20 journaled in the rails l and 2. The rod 9 isprovided with a similar rack, meshing into a pinion 21 secured to theshaft 20.

Located upon the outside of the rails 1 and 2 are casings 22 in whichhollow, wheel engaging members are located, the free ends of the wheelengaging members being adapted to rise out of the casings. The

wheel engaging member of the rail 1 is denoted by the numeral 23 and isprovided adjacent its bottom with an opening 241. The wheel engagingmember 23 is pivotally mounted upon a secondary shaft 25, and secured tothe secondary shaft 25, inside of the rail, is a segment 26 meshing intoa gear wheel 27 secured to the shaft 20. Secured to the shaft 25 andlocated on the outside of the rail 1 is a ratchet wheel 28 adapted to beengaged by a pawl 29. The pawl 29 is pivoted to the wheel engagingmember 23. A spring 30 engages the pawl 29. The lower end of the wheelengaging member 23 is disposed within a cup 31, located adjacent therail 1, and in the cup is placed mercury or other liquid which will notfreeze. The spring 30 is secured to the bottom of the cup 31 and extendsinto the opening 24c. Owing to the fact that the wheel engaging member23 is provided with the opening 24, the

mercury or other substance in the cup 31 'before described, the armaturebeing located of connection with the circuit of a assin D ca-tedadjacent the rail l-is energized. Then member 23. WVhile the free end ofthe wheel will enter within the wheelengaging mem; ber 23 and theratchet wheel 28, the pawl29 and the spring 30 will be immersed, whollyor in part, in the mercury in the cup 31and; thus the operation of thedevice will not b e impeded due to an accumulationof ice upon'pivota'l'ly to the wheelengaging member 32,1

the pawl 34 being controlled by a'spring 35. The mercury cup 36hereinbefore described, 'is provided, as clearly shown in Fig. 3.

Jo'urnaled for rotation in the rail 1 is a shaft 37 provided at itsouter end with an eccentric element shown in the form of an arm 38whic'his adapted to engage with the free end of the wheel receiving member.23. Secured to the inner endof the shaft 27 is an armature 39, locatedin the field of an electromagnet 40, the conductors of which are denotedby .the numeral 41. i

A shaft 42 is journaled forrot-ation in the rail 2, the shaft 42carrying an eccentric element in the form of an arm 43, adapted 'to.come into contact with the wheel engaging -member 32. Secured to theinner end of the shaft 43 is an armature, of the sort herein- -withinthe field of an electromagnet 44, the conductors of which are denoted bythe numeral 45.

a 'In practical operation, the conductors 45 and 41 are extended beneaththe pavement to a point adjacent the sidewalk, and thence are carriedupwardlyand inwardly toward the center of the track, so as to be capablecar. Any suitable means upon the car may: -be provided for energizingthe magnets 44 and 40'separately.

Suppose that the magnet 40 which is lothe magnet 40 will attract thearmature 39, causing a rotation of the shaft 37, the arm 38 of whichwill engage the free end of the free end of the same, the shaft 25constituting a fulcrum for the wheel engaging engaging member 23 isbeing elevated, the pawl 29 will not engage the ratchet wheel 28% torotate the same.

Presupposing that the wheel engaging; member 23 has been lifted-at itsfree end,? as shown in Fig. 2, the wheel of the passing! car engages thewheel engaging member and depresses the same. Then, the pawl 29,;engagin the ratchet wheel 28, will rotatef the ratchet wheel 28 and theshaft 25, the;

imparting rotation to the shaft 20. When the shaft 20. is rotated, thepinion 19 rod 8; through the instrumentality of the bell crank lever 11,shifting the connecting rod 6 in the direction of the arrow A,i'a'nd inthe directionof-the arrow A.

elevating the member 23 because the pawl 29 on the member 23 is out ofengagement with the ratchet wheel 28 when the member 23 is depressed tothe limit, the pawl being in when the depression of the member 23begins. That end of the spring 30 which bears upon the pawl tilts thepawl out of engagement with the ratchet wheel when the member 23approaches thelimit of the downward stroke. The foregoing explanationholds true with respect to the pawl 34 and attendant parts. There ismanifest utility in providing the rods 8 and 9 in duplicate, althoughthese rods operate together. the first place, the structure will beoperative, should either one of the rods 8 and 9 and coacting mechanismbebroken. Further, owing to the fact that the two levers actuatin theswitch oints 4 'accordin l a: P a i o a will be rotated, moving the rod8, and the V ""The member 32 may be depressed without I engagement with.the ratchet wheel only Int;

15 -11 are provided, together with their' re, i 3

spective rods 9' and 8, each rodbears but approximately one-half of thestrain, and the tendency of the rods 8 .and 9 to bend transversely,during the'operation of the respective levers. is reduced accordingly.'1

Suppose, however, that'the electromagnet 44 has been energized. Then,the magnet 44 willattractthe corresponding armature and cause a rotationof the shaft 42, the shaft 42,

efiecting a'lifting of the free end of the wheel engaging member 32which is located.

through the instrumentality of thearm 43, p A

33'. So soon, however, as the free end of the i wheel of a passing car,thepawl 34 will engage the ratchet wheel 33 and rotate the ratchet wheel33 together withthe shaft 20.

wheel engaging'member is depressed by the hen the shaft 20 is rotated inthe manner 1".

here'inbefore described, the pinion 21 will be actuated, the samesliding the rod 9 and effecting a swinging movement of the bell cranklever 15, the latter moving the. conne'ct'ing rod 6 in the directionof-the arrow 1'.-

B, the switch points being set accordingly. From the foregoing itwill beobserved that'the switch points maybe moved in is (mergized. a a V .1 41 Since the'pinions 19 and 21 upon the shaft 20, together withconnected'mechanisms are segment 26 meshing into the gear wheel 27 iopposite directions, clepending'upon whether the electromagnet 44 or theelectromagnet 40 actuatedsimultaneouslywhen but one of the"wheelengaging members 32 or 23 is actu-' ated, it is obvious that theremust be a lost 13 motion between the pawls and ratchets, of which thepawl 34 and the ratchet 33 may be taken as typical. The lost motionabove referred to, will be explained in connection with the members 34and 33 as shown in Fig. 3.

When the free end of the wheel engaging member 32 is elevated, the freeend of the sprin 35 rides downwardly along the edge of the pawl 34 andswings the lower end of the pawl into engagement with the ratchet wheel33. When the free end of the wheel engaging member 32 is depressed, thepawl 34, at first, is interlocked with the ratchet wheel 33, and securesa rotation of the ratchet wheel. However, as the wheel engaging member32 moves downwardly toward the limit of its stroke, the free, upper endof the spring 35 ultimately rides upwardly above the pivotal mounting ofthe pawl 34, and thus the pawl 34 is swung out of engagement with theratchet wheel 33. Therefore, it will be seen that the necessary lostmotion is provided.

In Fig. 5, a slightly modified form of the invention is shown. Referringto Fig. 5, the actuating member 56 replaces the actuating members 8 or 9as shown in Fig. 1. The actuating member 56 is a rod, one end of whichis pivoted to a lever 46, fulcrumed at its lower end as indicated at 47upon a rod or the like, extended between the rails, the lever 46 beingprovided with a slot 48 receiving a transverse rod 49 which serves as asupport and as a guide for the lever 46 in its swinging movement. Thearm 46 is provided with a slot 50, receiving a pin 51, disposed upon acrank arm 52, secured to a shaft 53, the shaft 53 exercising the samefunction as the shaft 20. The structure above referred to merelyreplaces the rack 18 and the pinions 19 and 21, and its operation andits place in the structure will be understood readily when Fig. 5 iscompared with the other figures of the drawings.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is 1. In a deviceof the class described, a switch point; a wheel engaging memberoperatively connected with the switch point; movable means for disposingsaid member in wheel engaging position, and including an armature; andan electromagnet to which the armature is responsive, the electromagnetbeing permanently fixed with respect to the armature.

2. In a device of the class described, a switch point; a wheel engagingmember operatively connected with the switch point; a shaft supportedfor rotation adjacent the wheel engaging member and provided with aneccentric element adapted to-engage the wheel engaging member; anarmature secured eccentrically to the shaft; and an electromagnet towhich the armature is responsive.

3. In a device of the class described, a switch point; a shaft supportedfor rotation and operatively connected with the switch point; anactuating member mounted to move with respect to the shaft; a wheelengaging member, mechanism for operatively connecting the wheel engagingmember with the shaft; a cup in which said mechanism dips; and a liquidin the cup, the liquid having a lower freezing point than the freezingpoint of water.

4. In a device of the class described, a switch point; a rail; a shaftdisposed transversely of the rail and supported for rotation; apivotally supported wheel engaging member; pawl and ratchet mechanismoperatively connecting the wheel engaging member with the shaft; anactuating member; means for operatively connecting the operating memberwith the shaft; a pivot ally supported lever operatively connected withthe actuating member; and a connection between the lever and the switchpoint.

5. In a device of the class described, a switch point and a rail; a pairof actuating members movable longitudinally of the rail; a connectingelement united with the switch point; levers uniting the connectingelement with the actuating members; a shaft supported for rotation anddisposed transversely of the rail; means for operatively connecting theshaft with the actuating members; pivotally supported wheel engagingelements; and lost motion connections between the wheel engagingelements and the shaft.

6. In a device of the class described, a switch point; a primary shaftsupported for rotation; a secondary shaft supported for rotation; awheel engaging element mounted upon each shaft; pawl and ratchetconnections between the wheel engaging elements and the shafts;intermeshing pinions con necting the shafts; a member operativelyconnected with the switch point; and separate connections operativelyuniting said member with the primary shaft.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own, I have hereto affixedmy signature 7 in the presence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM A. LINES. Witnesses:

MAX Boo'rrr, W. D. Goonnrcrr.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C.

